Alkylalkoxysilanes are useful for rendering various surfaces hydrophobic or water repellent. However, long chain (≧C4) alkylalkoxysilane do not readily disperse into water. Thus in order to prepare water based products or application of these materials, they are often provided as aqueous emulsions. However, such emulsions typically require the addition of surfactants along with an energy and equipment intensive shear mixing process for their formation. The presence of surfactants in the emulsion may limit the waterproofing ability of subsequent coatings formed from these emulsions. That is, the resulting coating will still contain “loose” surfactant. Most surfactants have a certain affinity towards water, so when the treated substrate is re-exposed to water or water moisture, any loose surfactant can attract water, and sometimes can even re-disperse protective oil ingredients which were coated on the substrate, back to water, thus defeating the purpose of waterproofing. Furthermore, emulsions of alkylalkoxysilanes often require the addition of certain catalysts to accelerate the water proofing process upon application to a surface.
Thus, a need exists to provide emulsions of alkylalkoxysilanes that do not contain surfactants which are detrimental to the water proofing process. A further need exists to provide such emulsions that are easily prepared. That is, they form readily without needing special equipment or energy intensive processes. Finally, a yet further need exists to identify emulsions that provide waterproofing coatings that do not require the addition of any catalysts.